As Summer Was Just Beginning
by rara avis
Summary: Why Sonomi loves Nadeshiko. Pre-pre-shoujo-ai.


Disclaimer: Card Captor Sakura is copyright CLAMP and all related enterprises. While I do not hold any legal rights over the series and characters, the situations that I portrayed the characters in, however, belong solely to me.  This piece was created for entertainment purposes only; no copyright infringement was intended. Title was derived from the song "As Summer Was Just Beginning" by Larry D. Daehn. I hold no legal rights over that as well.

Warnings: Beware of pre-pre-shoujo-ai. If you blink, it's gone.

Without further ado, enjoy.

As Summer Was Just Beginning

a Card Captor Sakura piece by rara avis

[r_avis@hotmail.com]

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The world outside was a blanket of soft sunshine and warmth, the earth green and glimmering from the previous night's rain-wash. The sky was a tapestry pinned up from an astounding height by a Great Magnificent, displaying all the shades of blue that the souls beneath carried in their hearts. Sitting on the expansive lawn in front of a summer manor was a girl, seven; who stared through the branches of the withering trees, admiring the shadow play with each passing moment; who gazed distantly at the humming birds gathering nectar at the flower beds like charms to the player.

Sonomi was her name. Sonomi Amamiya.

Sonomi felt the grass being displaced behind her; in its wake followed the shuffle of fabric, and she made not to look at the girl who plopped down beside her.

"Please…"

A mosquito danced in front of her. Annoyed, Sonomi turned and rolled over on her back, and tried defining the clouds in shapes. The summer air was hot and buzzing around them, swelling, and it made her skin tingle not unpleasantly. Overhead, there was a small, minute breeze too high for her to catch and tousle her fine hair, but the leaves brushed one another, touching, telling. Distantly does she wonder is that how they communicate?

"Please, Sonomi-chan," the girl, Nadeshiko, tried again, "he's not mad at you anymore."

Sonomi blinked, startled, and her head shot up to Nadeshiko. The sun was right behind the girl, a burning drop of gold whose fastens were loosening, and so she glowed brightly. Fascinating, really.

"Sonomi-chan."

She realized Nadeshiko was expecting and answer. "Is that so," she heard herself say. "Tell Ojii-san 'thank you' then?"

Nadeshiko grinned happily. Sonomi was not upset, Ojii-san wasn't either, and everything would be alright. 

"You know I will." Nadeshiko poked at a toadstool, but found interest in the caterpillar who sat atop it, and proceeded in tickling it. "You, ah, er, didn't happen to get hurt when that china broke?"

A monarch waltzed in front of her nose. Sonomi kept her eyes on it very deliberately, watching the fluttering wings, and loving. She turned to Nadeshiko's direction, and out of her peripheral vision, she saw the butterfly follow suit.

"No."

Then she closed her eyes, listening to the twittering birds high above her. The sun was melting, she saw, casting strawberry and violet hues to stain the sky. The sun was quite the magician, he was, casting magic all round like that. The grass, which still carried the early morning dew drops (shouldn't they be dried out by now? or were they simply water from the usual afternoon garden hose?), rubbed off on her cheek, just below her eyes, so they gave the impression of glistening tears. Out of the edges of her sight, she was graced with glimpses of the flower beds. The birds were gone, but the flowers still glowed with sparks of late afternoon sunlight.

In the middle of it all sat them: she, with her pale face pressed towards the earth, remembering last night's dreams and today's promises, tasting delicately the loveliness of life; and Nadeshiko, who sat next to her and could not be looked at in the eye because she was so radiant and perfect.

Sonomi figured she should do something about that last part.

Just then, though, small, white-cold fingers came in contact with a lock of her hair, and then more some. Sonomi started, almost flinched sharply, but those slender hands held her fast, and then later, calm.

"You have a bit of grass in your hair," Nadeshiko explained, though it wasn't really necessary. There was a hairsbreadth of a pause where Nadeshiko shifted and Sonomi shifted as well so that her head landed with a whispered thud on Nadeshiko's lap. The latter girl fingered through Sonomi's hair looking for the grass bits. Her fingers were stark against the black silk. 

Sonomi opened her eyes and took a second look at her cousin, whom she only recently met the other day while visiting Ojii-san at the summer manor. Took a second long look, and maybe that made all the difference.

She was pretty, yes. That part was fairly obvious the way that everybody looked twice at her. Rich, dark hair gathered at her shoulders in curls, framing her youthful face. Her skin was soft and creamy --- a bit on the pale side --- and from her small, childish body came a sense of warmth in abundance. Her physical traits were a manifestation of her demeanor, which was just as lovely: she was generous and well-wishing, quietly cheerful, soft-toned, awkwardly clumsy… lovable… and beautiful…

"Sonomi-chan," Nadeshiko hummed, "all done!" She bent down a little so her hair tickled Sonomi's face (it felt like water on her skin), and giggled. 

Sonomi blinked a bit and rubbed at the backs of her eyes lazily, smothering a yawn with her other hand. When she opened them again, her eyes instantly met the sight of the last fading streaks of red-gold left by the sun, and in that instant, all was still.

"Look," she dared breathe to Nadeshiko, and pointed to the display before the two of them.

They watched together in silence, as the last streaks diminished and died, only to be reborn again the next day. Then they stood up and brushed themselves off, getting ready to head back inside. Unthinking, Sonomi reached for Nadeshiko's hand, but turned in wonder when something, she noticed, was already in it.

"I wanted to give this to you," Nadeshiko offered shyly. "I just… I…" She ducked her head and stepped forward, tucking the pink flower firmly amidst Sonomi's fine locks.

Sonomi flushed.

"Let's be friends, don't you think?" Nadeshiko tried again, proffering her hand.

In the oncoming dusk, two figures stood alone, facing each other, before departing. Both were smiling in childish happiness, taking pleasures in the simple things in life. One reached out and grasped the hand that was offered to her, and both felt a friendship just palpable and within reach, tasting it on the very tips of their tongues.

"Let's," said she.

And the word echoed off into the horizon, carried in the hearts of many, as the stars made their presence known.

- owari -

I do realize rather belatedly that there is a tad bit of OOCness lurking in the shadows of this piece, and Sonomi and Nadeshiko may not act like they are at age seven. But as they are raised with high standards, being in a rich family (this is not to say that all rich families have high standards; I am merely stating that the Amamiya cousins are rich and they are obviously expected to raise their children with enough money to give them the best, as that is very apparent in Card Captor Sakura), they may at times feel rather lonely and secluded from others because of their status, resulting in a subdued nature (read: an excuse for the OOCness). 

Comments greatly welcome at r_avis@hotmail.com. 


End file.
